CanberraAccountability Statement

1. This water accounting report has been prepared and presented in accordance with the Australian Water Accounting Standard 1, with the following exceptions:

No Assurance Statement was prepared because the standard for, and practice of, assurance of water accounting reports have yet to be developed.

Notes on the quantification approaches and levels of uncertainty are incomplete because the knowledge base is often inadequate.

Asset changes for water stores (surface water, groundwater, urban water) have been recognised in the Statement of Changes in Water Assets and Water Liabilities, without a corresponding water store asset volume being recognised in the Statement of Water Assets and Water Liabilities for the following line items:

This is because water store flows and levels could be quantified but storage volumes for these items could not.

No information is disclosed about material events that occurred after 30 June 2012, such as extreme precipitation and significant water rights purchases. This information is publicly available elsewhere.

Volumes that failed the recognition criteria are reported in the water accounting statements with dashes ('–'), in order to highlight data and knowledge gaps that may affect the water accounting statements balances.

Volumes for surface water inflows, relating to 2010-11, have been restated in the water accounting statements where improved datasets and streamflow models have become available during the reporting period.

No information is disclosed on water for social, cultural and economic benefit.

2. The report has been compiled from the best data available, as detailed in the water accounting statement Notes, in the time available to compile it from a number of sources. Some data quality compromises have been made by the Bureau of Meteorology for the sake of a nationally-consistent approach to report preparation and presentation.

3. All significant and specific interpretations of the Australian Water Accounting Standard 1 for the purpose of the preparation of this report are explained in the water accounting policy Notes. The Bureau of Meteorology is responsible for these interpretations.